F³ A Cunning Plan

I hit the button for the flight attendant, then leaned over to get the attention of Mikey’s Mom, who was still cradling the infrequently sobbing girl.
“Mind if I borrow that?” I pointed at the doll and its head.

She gave the barest of nods.

I unbuckled and grabbed the doll and head from the empty seat. Amanda was there in a few minutes.

I motioned her down close, keeping my voice low. “Any chance you have a sewing kit I can borrow?”

Her eyes quickly scanned me, and she didn’t see any obvious clothing to be mended. “Is it an emergency?”

“Not an emergency so much as it’s going to ensure a more pleasant flight.” I pointed to the doll.

She nodded, then went to the overhead where her own luggage was stowed and retrieved a small zip up sewing kit, passing it to me.

“My partner here is going to need a new seat, too.”

“I don’t understand. Aren’t you going to help him?”

“I can get away with mending a hole for about fifteen minutes, but needlework isn’t one of my skills, but we both know someone on this flight who is pretty good at sewing.” I pointed toward the front of the plane.

Amanda looked, then she smiled in recognition. She nodded. “Okay, I can ask her.”

“Let us do it.”

I poked Mikey in the shoulder and passed the doll to him.

“What’s this for?”

“We’re going to fix it,” I whispered.

“How?”

“Come with me.”

“You’re very mysterious in the telling of this, Matthew. Couldn’t you skip the tension-building intrigue and get straight to it?”

“I got on a plane, so the weird kid, flew to Florida, and got off the plane.” I took a sip of my cocoa.

“Really, Matthew, you must be able to moderate between an ages-long storytelling exercise and the snarky one sentence summary.”

“See, I think that’s where you’re wrong. The story has to be worth telling or it’s not. You can’t have it both ways.”

“You do know that I have spent hundreds of years getting my way.”

“Thank God you met me to make your life interesting.”